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Telperion

Telperion (Q pron. [telˈperi.on]) was the elder of the Two Trees of Valinor, called the White Tree, which shed silver light on the domain of the Valar. His leaves were of dark green, shining silver beneath, and his boughs were decked with brilliant flowers that shed a rain of silver dew, which was collected as a source of water and of light.[1]

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Telperion was the elder of the Two Trees, and bloomed during the first part of the Valian day, followed by Laurelin. It endured throughout the Years of the Trees, but came to an end in the dreadful Darkening of Valinor.

However one of Telperion's flowers survived the Darkening, and was set aloft by the Valar; this was the light of the Moon, carried by Tilion the Maia.[2]

Even though the elder tree did not survive, he was not the last of the White Trees. Because the Elves that first came to Valinor especially loved Telperion, Yavanna made a second tree like it to stand in the city of Tirion where the Vanyar and Noldor dwelt together at first. This tree, named Galathilion, was identical to Telperion except that it gave no light of its own. It had many seedlings, one of which was Celeborn on the isle of Tol Eressëa.[3]

Another Quenya name for Telperion was Silpion[6]. The exact meaning of this name is unclear, but it is derived from the root SIL "shine (with white or silver light)"[7] or from the extended root SILIP[8]. It was sometimes glossed the "White Tree of Valinor"[8], so "White Tree" is the best available translation.

Ninquelótë was a Quenya title of Telperion.[1]Ninquelótë means "White Flower" or (perhaps more likely in this context) "White Blossom". The Sindarin equivalent of this Quenya name was Nimloth, and indeed that name was inherited by the White Tree that grew in the King's Court of Númenor.